Tuesday, November 21, 2017

The Turn You See Coming

Sometimes you find that you have turned corners and scarcely realize that such a thing has happened.

You suspect it is coming, of course:   like an average city block  you grasp that at some point the intersection will arrive.  You may even have a sense of how far it is until the turn arrives - and then, just like that, it is there.

You probably have made the turn out of instinct before you even thought about it; looking in the rear view mirror you see the traffic that was trailing you headed on down towards what you had believed was your destination.  It was not, apparently:  the turn arrived and for some reason you took it while others did not.

You probably think about it some as you continue on your new course: Did you see it coming?  Did you suspect?  Why did you turn?  And perhaps most importantly, where is it that you are headed now? 

There is probably a pang or two of regret as you continue to motor away.  The destination you thought you were heading to is no longer yours, and the people you thought were going to be there when arrived may not - nay, probably will not be there.  And you have no way of knowing what, or who, you will fine.

But all this is conjecture, of course:  the turn came and you made it and others did not.  All you can do now is to continue to drive into the sunset.

2 comments:


  1. I believe you've just written the modern equivalent of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Nicely done.

    Just remember that there's always another turn which can be made.

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  2. Thanks Reverend! High praise indeed!

    Interestingly, I always get the impression that in "The Road Not Taken" The Traveler is making a conscious choice. The choice here - my choice really - seemed much less deliberate. It was more of an instinctive thing that one looks back on after the decision without knowing why the decision was made.

    But yes. No turns are forever - and U-turns remain possible if needed.

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